


Something Very Like Love

by Deonara2012



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 20:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3542939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deonara2012/pseuds/Deonara2012
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SungGyu never knew how to answer the question "how do you get them to do that?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Very Like Love

**Author's Note:**

> Not mine, not true.
> 
> Written for a friend for Christmas 2011.

SungGyu never really understood people when they asked him how he managed to keep Infinite going the way he did, how he got them all to work so hard. He never knew how to answer it without insulting the person asking him the question - usually the leader of another group - and he didn't want to do that. He usually stammered out something about all of them being as dedicated to it as he was, and the questioner went away disappointed.

It wasn't a lie, really. 

But the real answer was so much more difficult, and encompassed all this hard work that he didn't know how to translate to anyone. He wanted to ask the person who asked him that question something like: "Don't you know how to get your group to work?" That's all it was, knowledge and care and something very like love, if it wasn't that. 

He had to know when SungJong really had reached the end of his strength and when Hoya and Dongwoo had caught their second wind and were going to overdo it if they didn't stop. He had to know how to cajole SungYeol and L into going one more hour when they thought they were done but he knew they had more to give. Most of all, he had to know how to get WooHyun to focus on now, not what was going to happen tomorrow or the next day or that weekend or the next performance.... It had taken him months to get all this information, to learn how to use it without hurting someone, to learn to apologize when he overstepped and pushed too hard, too stern.

For instance, now.

They all lay sprawled on the floor of their rehearsal room, looking like dolls dunked in water and spread out to dry. SungGyu had managed (somehow) to sit up and look over them, to assess how they really were. From the youngest:

SungJong was as tired as he looked; when he was playing, trying to get out of more practice, he moved more, as if the energy was trying to get out. But not now. L had about reached the end of his endurance, too; he stared up at the ceiling, hands still on the floor. If he had anything left, his hands would be moving, working through steps he hadn't quite solidified. He'd work on those tomorrow, if he had any (and he did; new choreography had them all working harder than usual). SungYeol was half asleep, shirt pulled up and overheated stomach pressed to the floor to help him cool off. No flinch, so he was as hot as he looked.

It disturbed SungGyu that he might want to try that, someday....

Hoya and DongWoo were talking quietly in gasps, but even they were still. Such an odd thing, to see the two of them barely moving. Any other time, he'd be worried about it, but considering how little he felt like moving.... He narrowed his eyes at them, and then smiled. No, they weren't playing, either, although sometimes it was hard to tell. He couldn't even point out exactly why he knew, just that he could tell the difference. WooHyun lay sprawled on his back, eyes closed, breathing evening out. He never gave less than his most, anyway.

Time to get up. It took him at least three tries to get himself to his feet; he'd sat too long and had started to stiffen up. "Okay, let's go," he said, and slowly, the rest of them started to move. He had to help SungJong to his feet and stand there a moment to let their magnae rest against him before he started for his bag and his water bottle. SungYeol resisted a bit more, but eventually did get up, leaving behind a sweat slick that L slipped on. He managed somehow _not_ to go down, to DongWoo and Hoya's somewhat subdued cheers. 

Yep. Definitely time to go home. He stopped with a word to Gonam-hyung about getting them dinner at home, then resumed getting them all up and out the door with everything they wanted to take back. Movement and water helped them all revive a little, but he suspected that even food wouldn't do too much for their energy levels. He could hear them talking, but he stayed out of it, tired and sore and ready to collapse.

Just the smell of something to eat roused them; Gonam-hyung had beaten them home, thankfully, and SungGyu made sure they'd all gotten something to eat before sitting down between WooHyun and SungJong, who still leaned to one side as if he hadn't quite managed to wake up. It wouldn't be the first time he fell asleep eating, either. SungGyu managed to eat while keeping an eye on him.

"SungJongie," he said after a while. "Go to bed."

The magnae looked at him, eyes barely open, and got slowly to his feet. SungGyu watched him go, and let out a soft sigh when he made it into his room. If he did that, he could usually make it into bed. Not always, but he'd check on him later. Or SungYeol or Hoya would tell him SungJong had passed out on the floor.

One by one, they staggered (quite literally, in Hoya and DongWoo's cases, so Hoya probably wouldn't say anything unless he tripped over SungJong) into their rooms even as he got up to clean up the dishes. Not much food left, not with at least three hollow legs in the group, but he put it away.

When he left the kitchen, WooHyun was just coming out of SungJong, Hoya, and SungYeol's room, and he carefully shut the door. "They're all in bed and asleep," he said, intercepting SungGyu's hand and holding onto it. "Even DongWoo and L. Your turn."

He couldn't deny how relieved he was, and followed WooHyun's tug on his hand to their room. Settled in bed, curled around him, he had one last thought, last words of advice for those leaders who kept asking him how he did it:

Remember to have someone to make sure you get sleep, make sure you stop worrying, and if he's someone you can kiss, so much the better. Even if he's not, someone has to make sure you don't burn out while you're making sure no one else does, and that's what a right hand man is for. Find one that cares as much as you do, and you've got it made.

"I've got it made," SungGyu murmured, and WooHyun laughed softly.

"Go to sleep, hyung. You stopped making sense."

SungGyu smiled, pressed a kiss to the back of WooHyun's neck, and did as he asked.


End file.
